Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
An aircraft typically includes a plurality of aircraft equipment inside an upper fuselage segment or crown portion of the aircraft, such as various systems, equipment, furnishings, and linings. These various systems, equipment, furnishings, and linings may include, for example, electrical equipment, wires, environmental control system (ECS) equipment and ducts, oxygen lines, water lines, power feeders, and other items. Typically, one or more secondary structures attached to the airframe provide support for these various systems, equipment, furnishings, and linings inside the crown portion of the aircraft.
Ceiling panels are typically a primary access point to the systems and equipment that run in the crown portion of the aircraft. Therefore, it is desirable for the ceiling panels to be installed in a manner that allows quick and simple methods of release, so that the systems and equipment that run in the crown portion of the aircraft may be accessed. This release is typically accomplished by employing some type of latch that can be released to remove the ceiling panel. Typically, the latch is hidden from view of passengers of the aircraft. However, the latch typically must be positioned in a location from which service personnel can manually access the latch in order to actuate the latch for release. Allowing for manual access to the latch release, however, creates design limitations on ceiling panels and often prevents designs that would improve the visual look of the ceiling panels. Additionally, current blind solutions for ceiling-attachment hardware typically use turn fasteners that require an access hole or other similar method. However, these current methods are often costly, unreliable, and difficult to certify for aircraft use.
There is, therefore, a need for a design that creates a simple and cost-effective method for attaching ceiling panels with hidden but accessible latches and that allows for more efficient and integrated designs.